Wind in the Mountains
by Agent Firefly
Summary: While vacationing in Canada, the members of the host club are separated by an avalanche. Hikaru and Kaoru are rescued from a glacial cave by Hunny. Haruhi and Mori are stranded on a snowy cliffside with only the barest necessities for survival. And Kyoya digs Tamaki out of the avalanche to discover that he's slipped into a coma. Three alternating points of view.
1. Kaoru

**Spoilers Follow: **_This story takes place after the last volume of the manga, while the host club is studying abroad in America. I mention a couple of details that happen in the last few chapters, so read at your own risk!_

* * *

WIND IN THE MOUNTAINS

* * *

1. KAORU

* * *

"Pencils down!" Hikaru and I shout in unison. We reach over Haruhi's shoulders to slam her notebook shut.

"Hey!" The brown-haired girl drops her pencil, jerking her hand away. "I still have work to do. And you smashed my pinky, Hikaru."

I don't know how she can tell which one is Hikaru without turning around, but Haruhi has always had a knack for differentiating between us. It's one of the reasons we like her so much.

"Sorry," Hikaru stammers, blushing. He acts so stupid whenever he flubs things up with Haruhi. To save him the embarrassment, I take the lead and lift Haruhi's hand to my chin.

"Want us to kiss it better?" I coo in my most seductive hosting voice. I wink to Hikaru, who joins in the game. "Double the romance for double the relief," he purrs.

Just as Haruhi prepares to conk our heads together in disgust, the door to her apartment flies open and Tamaki bursts inside. "You devilish twins! How dare you molest my innocent daughter!"

I smirk. No telling how long he was standing behind that door, waiting for the perfect moment to barge in on us. Milord sure loves to make a scene. Almost as much as we do.

My brother rolls his eyes. "I can't believe you still address Haruhi by those stupid pet names, Highness. Now that you guys are dating, it just sounds perverted."

"What?" Tamaki's princely face shrivels up in anguish. "We're still a family, aren't we? Can't a father be a lover as well?"

Hikaru makes a face. "Not in the way you're suggesting."

"Not lawfully, anyway," I add.

We both collapse in fits of laughter.

"That's not what I meant!" Tamaki wails.

Haruhi grimaces. "Don't dig your grave any deeper than it already is, Senpai."

The door swings open a second time, and the remaining three members of the host club stroll into the room. "Must you tease our president so?" Kyoya sighs as Tamaki runs into his arms. He glares at us over the rims of his glasses. "For two brothers whose selling point is 'twincest,' you're hardly in a place to criticize."

"Kaoru! Hikaru!" Before our battle of wits can escalate, we're interrupted by Hunny's cheerful voice. "Haru-chan!" The bunny-toting university student skips over to us, followed closely by a watchful Mori. Hunny springs into Haruhi's lap and squeezes her tightly. "We couldn't wait to see you today! Could we, Takashi?"

"Mm," Mori agrees.

"Now that the meeting has convened, we can get started," Kyoya notes, opening his ledger.

Haruhi wrestles free of Hunny's grip. "Meeting?" she splutters. "Wait a minute. My room is not a public forum. And I don't remember inviting any of you here." She shoots an angry look at Hikaru and me. "Before you jerks broke into my apartment, I was working on a research project."

"Homework can wait!" I stick out my tongue. "It's winter vacation! Time to plan our annual host club outing."

"But we just took a trip last month," Haruhi points out. "Remember? When we all went to Barcelona with Kyoya-senpai."

"That was more of a business trip." Hikaru shrugs. "Spain may be our favorite place ever, but following Kyoya around doesn't count as a real vacation."

"Oh, really?" The shadow king smiles at us. "I'll keep that in mind when I make your hotel reservations."

"I wanna go to the North Pole!" Hunny interjects. "We can have Christmas at Santa's house!"

"Reindeer..." Mori nods cryptically.

"Nah, let's go someplace warm," Hikaru says. "It's summer in Australia right now. Have you ever seen a kangaroo, Haruhi?"

"You haven't lived until you've gone scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef," I agree.

"I've always thought of the Swiss Alps as the superior winter destination," Kyoya suggests. "My family owns a chain of cottages tucked away in the mountains."

"You've all got it wrong!" Tamaki barks, seizing his girlfriend's hand. "Haruhi and I will be spending the vacation in our own private getaway, a tropical island paradise for two! You freeloaders will have to find somewhere else to stay."

Haruhi shakes her hand loose and stands up. "Look, I never agreed to any of this. You guys can do whatever you want with your vacation, but I intend to stay home. I have three projects due on the first day of the spring semester, and no time to waste. Besides, I'm sick of being dragged to a lot of exotic locations just so we can goof around. Can't we ever go someplace practical and affordable, like Canada?"

This takes all of us by surprise. Hikaru and I look at each other. "Actually, we've never been to Canada."

"I went there once," Kyoya muses, "but I forgot what it looks like."

Tamaki rummages through Haruhi's bookcase and pulls out an atlas. "Canada? Is that on the map?"

"The people there eat pancakes every day," Hunny beams.

"Reindeer," Mori repeats.

Kyoya folds his arms, nodding. "Then it's settled. Everyone be sure to dress warmly for the trip, and bring your snowshoes."

Haruhi waves her hands frantically. "Hold up. That wasn't a suggestion. I just meant-"

"Yukon, ho!" Hunny cheers. "Mush, Takashi!"

And that's how the host club went to Canada.

* * *

**Author's Note:** _Sorry about all the awful stereotypes. I know it isn't true about the pancakes. And as far as I can make out, "Yukon, ho" is from _Calvin & Hobbes._ Next chapter will be from Haruhi's point of view._


	2. Haruhi

2. HARUHI

* * *

The wind howls through the trees and slaps my scarf against my face. We're standing on the side of a mountain, ski lifts passing overhead.

"Another ski resort?" I moan, unable to hide my disappointment.

"You seemed to be enjoying yourself at Miss Kurakano's private resort last winter," Kyoya states.

"We thought you'd want to give it another try, Haru-chan." Hunny gazes up at me with sweet blue eyes. I have to look away.

"That was when I was pushing myself to try all kinds of new things," I explain. "Now that I'm comfortable with who I am, I don't really have any desire to seek thrills."

The other members of the host club stare at me with blank expressions. I heave a sigh. "Never mind. I'm sure we'll have a fun time."

To tell the truth, I was hoping for a more relaxing vacation. Canada seemed like a logical bet: I thought maybe we'd get snowed in and spend the week in a cabin, where I could get my homework done in peace. No such luck. I should know by now that a week with the host club is anything but predictable.

"I brought you a hot chocolate, Haruhi." Tamaki offers the styrofoam cup to me, and I smile as the steam warms my face. At least my crazy boyfriend is behaving himself.

"Thanks," I say.

The host club king glows with pride. "Everyone knows that food is the way to a commoner's heart."

Okay, so I overestimated him. I have to restrain myself from throwing the scalding liquid in his face.

"Usa-chan and I are heading for the expert slopes!" Hunny announces. "Who wants to come?"

My eyes fall on the twins, who are standing nearby. Hikaru has looked uncomfortable ever since we got here. I can't blame him. He's probably thinking of Miss Kurakano's ski resort, the place where he asked me to be his girlfriend. The memory is still a strange one for both of us.

"I'll go," Hikaru volunteers, turning his back to me. Kaoru tags along with him, and they follow Hunny toward the lift.

"There's a nice intermediate slope on the far side of the mountain," Kyoya says, studying his map. "Tamaki, Haruhi, want to join?"

"Come on, Haruhi!" Tamaki begs. "I'll hold your hand the whole way down!"

"That sounds dangerous," I reply. "You two, go ahead. I need to get in some practice first."

I'm actually planning to sneak off to the lodge and take a nap while they're gone, but my plans are overturned when I notice Mori standing behind me. We're the only two people left on the hillside. "Aren't you going with Hunny-senpai?" I ask.

Mori stares into the distance where Hunny disappeared. His face is unreadable, his eyes narrowed in thought. The wind tosses his short black hair like the wild branches of the pine trees.

"Mori-senpai?"

He looks down at me and smiles faintly, as if he just realized I was there. "I'll practice with you," his deep voice intones.

I smile back. "Okay."

* * *

We hear the noise long before it hits. A distant rumble, like thunder. I don't notice anything at first, I'm so focused on maintaining my balance in these cumbersome skis, but Mori tenses up like a hunting dog, poised to listen.

"What's wrong?" I look in the direction of his gaze, and then I see it. A white cloud descending on the mountain. Or rather, from the mountain. Even as cries of _Avalanche!_ echo across the snowfields, I'm not sure how to respond. The word is unfamiliar to me.

I glance over to see Mori unbinding his boots from his snowboard. He turns to me and does the same, loosening my feet from the skis. Then he crouches in front of me and says, "Jump on."

We're on an isolated slope, far from any of the other skiers. I take another frantic view of the mountain as I climb onto Mori's back and link my arms around his neck. The white mass builds and billows, the thunderous sound more menacing by the second. I know what this is, now. _Nadare._

"Takashi!" I cry out, panic rising in my throat. But he already knows what's happening, and he's bolting sideways across the slope at full speed. Unfortunately, with the deep snowpack and my weight on his back, full speed is not very fast at all.

"Put me down! I can run!" My voice is dampened by the wind. Mori hears me, though. He tilts his head, and I see the corner of his eye, anxious but determined. I drop to the snowy ground and grab his hand. Together we push through the icy drifts, desperate to get out of the monster's path.

The powder envelops us, the voice of the mountain roaring in our ears. Mori is yelling, "Cover your mouth! Take a deep breath!" but I can barely hear him. I do as he says, only to have the air knocked out of me by the impact. It's like being hit by an ocean wave, the kind that sweeps you off your feet.

We're falling. Rolling, crashing down the mountainside with the snow. Mori wraps himself around me, but he can't shield me from the overbearing whiteness that threatens to bury us alive. I'm certain that we're about to die. Then I feel air beneath my feet, and I slip out of Mori's arms until I'm clinging to one of his gloved hands. Snow falls away under my kicking legs. Far below, tree tops sway as the deluge pounds them flat. We're hanging from the edge of a cliff.

Mori groans with strain. He's holding me with one outstretched arm, the other hooked around a sickly tree that's clinging to the cliffside. The avalanche hurtles over us like a curtain, the rocky nook shielded from the worst of the damage. But I can't hold on much longer, and Mori's glove is slipping in my grip.

"Help," I whimper, too afraid to scream. I try to swing my other arm up to reach him, but the motion makes me slip even more.

What happens next is incredible. Mori bites the glove from his free hand, locks his knees around the trunk of the scrawny tree and leans over the edge, nearly upside-down. "Roll down your sleeve," he commands me. That's easy enough to reach. I yank down the warm fabric of my coat, exposing my arm to the frozen air. Mori's bare hand shoots down and grabs my wrist, skin on skin, and he pulls me up with a roar like the avalanche itself.

As soon as my boots scrape the rocky ledge, I scramble over the side and into his arms. The noise dies away to a mumble while we huddle against the cliff wall, shaking and short of breath. I can feel Mori's heartbeat racing inside his chest, overwrought and overworked. My own heart seems to have stopped for good.

When I finally get the courage to look up, I realize that the avalanche has passed. Above us, the cliff rises a hundred feet to the mountainside we came from. Below us, it drops another few hundred feet to the bottom. To the right and left, steep grades of icy snow bar our way back up.

"Mori-s-senpai," I whisper, teeth chattering. "Where are we?"

The wind screeches over the ice-glazed wasteland with a sound like nails on a chalkboard. From the gray clouds overhead, snow begins to fall.

Mori casts his eyes from the rocky cliffside to the dim horizon. "I don't know."


	3. Kyoya

3. KYOYA

* * *

I scan the slope for signs of life. Although I tried to keep an eye on Tamaki when the avalanche hit, I lost track of him almost immediately. I could have sworn he was right behind me. Maybe he made it to safety, too.

"Tamaki!" My shouts reverberate among the towering pine trees. No answer. Come to think of it, we skied quite a long way downhill before we veered away from the snowslide. I wonder if anyone can hear me at all.

I hike uphill in the direction we came from. The forest sings ghostly refrains as the wind cuts through the trees. Piles of snow have gathered around the trunks where the avalanche collided with the mountain. At each one, I stop and listen.

A bird flutters out of a nearby bush, startling me. I watch as it beats the air and falls back down into the snow, struggling. Was it hurt in the avalanche? The poor creature hops along the fallen debris of branches, its damaged wing outstretched. _I'm sorry I can't help you,_ I apologize silently. _There's someone else I have to save._

Finally, I spot something useful. A ski pole, lodged in the snow at an odd angle. "Tamaki?" I pull the pole free, kneel down and shovel armfuls of snow. The cold seeps through openings in my sleeves and drips down along my palms. My glasses fog and I wipe them against my shoulder, too desperate to stop. At last, my glove closes on fabric, and I see the emblem on Tamaki's ski jacket.

_Okay, _I chant to myself as I clear the snow away from his face and body._ It hasn't been long. He wasn't buried very deep. He'll be okay. _I brush the powder from his face and dig out the space around his shoulders.

"Hey, Tamaki." My voice is unsteady. "Can you hear me?"

He doesn't respond. He doesn't even move. I reach down to dig out more of the snow, then stop myself. _Stupid. Don't move him. Think. What do I do?_

Check airway. One hand on his forehead, the other under his chin. I lean my ear close to his open mouth and hold my breath as I listen for his. A faint brush of warmth, steady and slow. _Good. This is good._ _Now what?_

For once, I wish I'd focused on the medical rather than the business side of my family's company. From an early age, my brothers and I were given intensive training in emergency first aid. My best friend's life is in my hands. Why can't I remember anything?

I cover my ears and close my eyes. Silence. I need silence. _Think._ Should I dig him out, or leave him where he is? The snow is more insulating than the open air. But what if he's hurt?

_Tachibana, Aijima, Horita. _The members of the Ohtori Family Guard who are sworn to protect my life. They should be here by now. But no one could have followed the erratic path we took to escape the avalanche. I can't even see the ski lifts from here.

My cell phone is zipped in a waterproof bag, deep inside the pockets of my jacket. I uncover it and flip it open, speed dial the number. "Tachibana. Do you copy?"

No signal. The call won't go through. Not only that, but the battery is low.

I pace around the forest to no avail. Zero bars. Reluctantly, I power off the phone and stow it in my pocket. There's no sense in wasting what's left of the battery.

Tamaki's face looks paler by the second. I reach for his wrist to take his pulse, and I can feel him shivering. _Still alive. Still breathing. _I scoop out the rest of the snow surrounding his body. Nothing broken or bleeding, as far as I can tell. _Okay. What next?_

I take off my hat and ease it over Tamaki's head, careful to support his neck. He must have lost his own hat during the fall. I unzip my ski jacket and lay it flat on the snow, then take a quick inventory of what's inside. I have my cell phone, a small box of matches, a folded plastic rain poncho, and a tube of lip balm. For a long time I sit there in the cold, staring at the meager display of belongings. Everything I could and should have brought springs to my mind with malice. Food, an emergency blanket, a solar phone charger, a first aid kit. How could I be so stupid?

_You're wasting time,_ I scold myself. _It's not much, but it could be worse. Move. Think._

I unfold the rain poncho and seal everything else in the waterproof bag. Then I spread the thin plastic on the ground beside Tamaki. It takes a while to figure out how to slide the poncho underneath him, but I manage to tuck one end on either side and stretch the whole thing over top of him, as if he were a plate of leftovers. The image is so ridiculous that I have to stifle my laughter. I'm still laughing as I drape my jacket over him, even when I realize it's not funny at all, even when the tears slide down my face, because I can't stop, no matter how hard I gag myself with my sleeve, no matter how hard I punch my thighs. I curl over with my head between my knees and laugh until it hurts, down to the last wheezing breath.


End file.
